Parker continued. “I’ve learned so much from you already, about how to man up and go after the one you want, about how to love her fully once you have her, and about how to make all her dreams come true.”
He gestured around the reception hall. “I mean, look at where we are. You found a way to bring all your loved ones across an ocean for this woman. All because you know how much she loves the author who made this place so famous.”
For the first time since he started speaking, he pulled out a piece of paper to read from. “It seems only fitting to end with a quote from her favorite play, Romeo and Juliet. It was recently suggested to me that I should pick up the play again, and so, while you’ve all been sleeping at night, I’ve been giving it a read. Okay, a skim but still. I’m glad I did because as soon as I came across this line, I knew it was the perfect one for you two.”
He cleared his throat again, then lifted the paper. “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, my love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have, for both are infinite.”
Folding the paper again, he tucked it back in his pocket and then picked up his glass to raise it. “To infinite love for Josh and Agatha.”
The statement was followed by the clinking of glasses and people repeating their names after him, but my eyes were too blurry to even find my glass before I’d swiped my fingers underneath them. Once the toast was made, Parker came back to my side and winked.
“How was that?” he asked. “Good, right? Not a dry eye in the house. Yours included.”
I punched his shoulder playfully but then shrugged. “You were good. I just hope you can keep it up for your next pitch meeting.”
He sighed heavily, shaking his head at me as he grinned. “Are we really going to have to start taking shots again for you to stop talking about work?”
“Nope,” I said quickly. “That’s not necessary. It was just an observation.”
Nodding, he snaked an arm over the back of my chair and kept it there throughout dinner. While we spoke to his friends, they reminisced and ate dinner, but I was supremely aware of the heat of his arm so close to my skin and of the feel of him pressed up against my side.
As strange as it sounded, I was even aware of his faint scent drifting over to me, a heady mixture of clean soap, woodsy cologne, and man. I had to actively concentrate on not being obvious about breathing him in.
Once the dancing started, he stood up and held his hand out to me. As members of the wedding party, everyone at our table was obligated to join, and since he’d warned me about it beforehand, I followed him onto the dance floor without any objections.
As he pulled me close, though, I realized that I should’ve told him that he could take someone else for a spin around the floor. Because this close to him, with his hard body mashed against mine and his hot breath feathering across my temples, I was getting turned on. Fully aroused by a man I would be sleeping next to but couldn’t touch.
And that was going to be torture.